...do we have games and experiences that are the same type in the same room?
Are we using the space intelligently, rather than just using the space because we have to?
Yeah, these are all the components for the final version.
It's not going to be cardboard like this I need to laser-cut it
and because it's a story the narrative needs to work so it's kind of,
all those things together, it's just a lot to think about.
Put it over your head so it's in the middle...
I've just come across personal EEG headsets and then something clicked.
-Meditation, basically, you stop... - Calms it down?
-Yeah. - OK.
It's a bit hit and miss because I'm gonna have to program in certain criteria for
those markers to activate and not activate.
...i'll hide this under the wood
and then I'll build like a stone circle around it, so it's like an actual fire pit.
So it's a generative storytelling game.
This is based off of a game that I used to play with my dad when I was a kid.
You've got this ability to create thousands of different possible scenarios,
So trying to make sure that those are interesting,
so that every time when you play something you do get something that's
genuinely different is difficult.
I moved here to really focus on writing specifically for games.
I love games, they're my medium, I really want to do something with that.
If you guys have ever heard of something like Dungeons & Dragons,
So I really like those types of games and I decided, you know what would be fun?
Is if the players would all roleplay that they're effectively part of a Disney film,
so they're bursting into song and dance routines at a drop of a hat...
...and just lighting and pyrotechnics, basically if you can come up with a way
why your songs (are) exploding or...
So much of it just takes place in the imagination,
so if you have a creative group of players you can really have them do whatever
and have a really fun time.
These kinds of games you basically need to iterate on the testing all the time,
you need to playtest, playtest, playtest.
We all like a lot of different games but there's a bunch of overlap
and we all know what a good indie game is when we see it.
...is it okay if we start with you,
do mine as a presentation, go to Alex who's about 10 minutes,
and then finish off with you guys, is that alright?
...you do a survey, and then you play the game until you die,
and then you get another survey just to wrap things up.
I like games just as systems for people to interact with,
you do a survey and then you play the
of systemic issues through games by defining a rule set and getting players
to play them out emily is a game where you mind Bitcoin at the end of the world
Bitcoin energy usage has driven the earth to environmental collapse the
player then still has to continue mining the claim in order to be able to afford
to keep going food is expensive now
there was four months of research and reading and trying to get the mechanics
right so that they would do the the topics justice I wanted more more of the
technical support back yeah I realized as an early version but the more of that
that you put in there just sort of like having him periodically come up and say
something would be really cool my game is an audio-visual neurofeedback game so
I'm trying to get it so that depending on your mood changes it will change the
chord progressions of the soundscape his theme very tricky I'm using machine
learning to try and collect a bunch of data of different people of their mental
states whether that collection of data actually works that's kind of the main
part trying to get to issues or you know easier to turn on and leave it turning
on us and it starts to generate
so we've got a Benz project so he's got beatboxer that's sort of a rhythm game
where you're you're punching them to the beat they're not a pronounce its pong
but it's okay like yeah anyway um we've got a bunch of people playing around in
a circle so we're gonna have this room here is sort of like a a social area
kind of like our Katie field there as well I am testing the setup that I've
got for this fire effect that I've been building for the past couple of months
it's come a long way since the light on top of a plastic shoebox I've now got
heat when you breathe into it it's like starting a fire
I miss me you know I've got two brothers and you know like that experience of
being able to play together certify communally in the same space has
something that I've always really enjoyed and I think to some degree it's
not quite as prominent as it used to be and their reasons for that but there are
also things that are coming back that are changing that like if I can be a
part of that somehow I would love to
I'm just trying to figure out why that's recent yeah why you can jump forever
making a game called corner fold it's a first-person puzzle game and we've got
that this rewind mechanic where the player can record their actions and
rewind back time and these actions will keep the plane on there's two other
people in my team Edgar and Doric they're both artists how long have you
been working it for now yeah when we first started this project it was more
of the game that focuses on play and what the divining mechanic was kind of
hard to explain in that context the people were playing puzzle games they
come in with a different mindset they want to learn a new mechanic heading to
the launch the careers please able to open those from those yes
for those by taking names like there are some stories in it it's like your first
day on this new position you're like a product tester yeah so that's your job
testing products and things happen yeah the time comes as well no yeah a little
seeing it failed and getting really sad and making it and seeing it fail and
then doing it again and again and eventually it works and you're just
really happy because you've delivered like happiness to this person is it's
nice I think that that core motive is the same for every person who makes
games or any sort of experience calibration has to time to flip
extension 1 whoo yeah so someone's trying to send you a private message and
that's where the infrared comes in you are an employee at this company who
works with these servers and they're all western-themed because it's in a former
ghost town in the middle of the southwestern United States and your
server is called Lone Ranger you're supposed to help Lone Ranger calibrate
some things and essentially help this server spy on someone so that's one path
that you can choose kind of figuring out how to instruct people to use this thing
has been a bit of a challenge and also infrared is still I mean I can contain
it as much as I want but it still manages to pour out somehow so I've sort
of had to implement that unpredictability into the narrative
I made a major overhaul to the way that the online game mechanics work so
hopefully what I've cooked up now is a way for people to get a cool story
together while playing with music while actually being motivated to use the
carts in play and actually understanding what's going on but we will find out
shortly in terms of the game
some books and it works like cpq code changes but
that's mostly just to make me happy
yes
yeah that was a
my research took means a rabbit hole it's kind of hurting my mind
with this technology as you can see from my eyes and what and the way I'm
speaking right now I'm absolutely exhausted but it's worth it
special effects in the air
after a few times trying to get the game in way so that it delivers this message
it has started to hit home with people which is nice
this thing that we've been really working really hard towards like you
know not just over the summer but you know through the entire year I feel like
I was part of something really special and I'm gonna miss it yeah